A Filipino fisherman has found possibly the world’s biggest pearl, which he had hidden under a bed for more than 10 years as a lucky charm, a tourism official said.

Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crashing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said today.

A military helicopter went down while airlifting bodies from an earlier chopper accident, officials in the Philippines said today. The two crashes killed 13 people.